There has been a Tucker Carlson sighting! Actually, two of them. More on that in just a moment.
But, first, do we know any more about why the biggest star with the biggest prime-time ratings on the most-watched cable news network was unceremoniously kicked out the door?
Actually, yes.
The Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit, which is costing Fox three-quarters of a billion dollars, might not have been the direct reason Carlson was fired. But it might have been an indirect reason.
In a whopper of a story, Keach Hagey, Joe Flint and Isabella Simonetti of The Wall Street Journal — owned by the same mogul who owns Fox News — report that Carlson’s comments discovered in the troves of emails, texts and other communications prior to the Dominion trial might have done him in.
The Journal reporters wrote, “The private messages in which Mr. Carlson showed disregard for management and colleagues were a major factor in that decision, according to other people familiar with the matter. Although many portions of the Dominion court documents are redacted, there is concern among Fox Corp. executives that if the redacted material were to become public, it would lead to further embarrassment for the network and parent company.”
One of the redacted items, according to the Journal story, was Carlson using a particularly vulgar word about women to describe a Fox News senior executive.
Then, similar to the Journal’s reporting, came another whopper in reporting from The New York Times’ Jim Rutenberg, Jeremy W. Peters and Michael S. Schmidt. They wrote that on the eve of the Dominion trial, the Fox board of directors and top executives were sent into a panic. The Times wrote, “Private messages sent by Mr. Carlson that had been redacted in legal filings showed him making highly offensive and crude remarks that went beyond the inflammatory, often racist comments of his prime-time show and anything disclosed in the lead-up to the trial.”
The Times added, “Despite the fact that Fox’s trial lawyers had these messages for months, the board and some senior executives were now learning about their details for the first time, setting off a crisis at the highest level of the company, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.”
Sources told the Times that the redacted messages were the driving force to cut ties with Carlson. Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott made the actual phone call to Carlson on Monday, the Times reported, and Lachlan Murdoch viewed it as a “business decision.”
There also is the upcoming lawsuit filed by a former Fox News producer claiming a toxic environment on Carlson’s show, which has Fox News execs worried.
It would seem this is all more about Carlson off camera than on.
Here’s what Vox’s Peter Kafka had to say: “The reason any of this matters, by the way, is what the answer could tell us about the future of Fox News. If the reasons for Carlson’s departure are truly about what happened behind the camera, then you shouldn’t expect a post-Carlson Fox News to be different in any way. Just like they did when they booted (Bill) O’Reilly, they’ll find another face to fill Carlson’s seat, and that host will give the Fox News audience the red-meat fear-mongering they expect to see. … But if — and this is not at all likely — it turns out the Murdochs actually had a problem with Carlson’s content, then it’s a different story.”
A Carlson sighting
Making his first public comments since being fired by Fox News earlier this week, Tucker Carlson said, “Retirement is going great so far.”
Writing for The Daily Mail, Ben Ashford caught up with Carlson outside his $5.5 million beach home in Boca Grande, Florida, on Tuesday night. Photos showed what appeared to be a rather upbeat Carlson (The Daily Mail called him “gleeful”) driving in a golf cart with his wife, Susan. Carlson said, “I haven’t eaten dinner with my wife on a weeknight in seven years.”
When asked what is in his future, Carlson cracked, “Appetizers plus entree.”
What is next for Carlson besides having dinner with his wife? At 53, he is not expected to retire.
He has hired attorney Bryan Freedman to negotiate his exit package with Fox. Carlson is unlikely to make any moves while that is going on. In addition, Carlson almost certainly had a noncompete clause in his contract, meaning he is unable to work with a media company that is considered a competitor to Fox News. His firing wouldn’t necessarily make the noncompete null and void.
Then, on Wednesday evening, Carlson put out a video on social media. Wearing a sports coat and tie, Carlson talked for about two minutes. He didn’t address his firing. He talked about … well, if you’re really interested, here’s the video.
Speaking of Carlson
Be sure to check out PolitiFact’s Madison Czopek and Amy Sherman and their piece: “Here are falsehoods we found in Tucker Carlson’s final Fox show.”
Yep, right up until the end, Carlson played his hits — from Hunter Biden’s laptop to scaring his viewers about immigration.
Czopek and Sherman wrote, “Carlson seemed to have no knowledge the April 21 show would be his last, but he reprised themes viewers who have watched ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ over the last seven years would recognize: Crime. Race. LGBTQ+ topics. He portrayed a United States under attack and falling into mayhem under the leadership of Democrats, including President Joe Biden.”
It’s an insightful breakdown of Carlson’s final show.
Fox News’ other headache
Fox News settled the lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems by writing Dominion a check for $787.5 million. That made that suit go away.
But Fox News isn’t out of the woods just yet. It is still facing a $2.7 billion lawsuit from another voting systems company — Smartmatic.
CNN’s Marshall Cohen reported Wednesday that Fox has agreed to turn over additional documents about Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch and other senior corporate executives.
Cohen wrote, “Fox also will give Smartmatic documents related to Rupert Murdoch’s son Lachlan Murdoch, who is the CEO of Fox Corp., as well as relevant materials about Chief Legal Officer Viet Dinh and Raj Shah, a former Trump administration official who is now a vice president at Fox Corp. These materials will include deposition transcripts and exhibits, apparently from the recently settled defamation case involving Dominion Voting Systems, a Smartmatic lawyer said in court.”
Smartmatic lawyers had questioned whether Fox News was withholding material about the Murdochs. Cohen wrote, “Fox lawyers said in recent court filings that they’re complying with all court orders and pointed out that Fox Corp. has already produced more than 30,000 documents to Smartmatic.”
Stelter: Carlson was never invincible
Fox Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch, shown here in 2019. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)
Brian Stelter returned to his old stomping grounds, so to speak. Most of you probably know Stelter for his work at CNN as a media reporter and host of the Sunday morning media show, “Reliable Sources.” But before that, he was a media reporter at The New York Times.
Stelter has a new guest essay in the Times: “I Worked at CNN and Reported on Tucker Carlson. He Was Never Invincible.”
Stelter notes that Carlson’s show, even though it was the most viewed in prime time on cable news, still only drew 3 million people a night — just 1% of the U.S. population. But don’t let that fool you. His firing was and continues to be among the biggest news stories of the week.
“That’s because the power of cable news is in its reach and repetition, not its ratings,” Stelter writes.
Stelter continued, “I learned this during my nearly nine years at CNN, where I anchored a weekly program about the media and reported on Mr. Carlson’s radicalization. The people who tuned in to his show at 8 o’clock sharp were only a subset of his total audience. When you count all the people who saw him on a TV at a bar or in an airport and all the people who watched a clip on the internet or heard radio talk-show hosts quote him, he had a monthly audience of surely tens of millions. Now multiply that reach by the dozens of other hosts on Fox News, and you can start to see the true influence of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.”
Stelter later added, “That’s why I dismiss predictions — fashionable, even at some of these networks — that cable news is doomed to irrelevancy.”
Plenty of more insight in Stelter’s column, so check it out.
An added voice to ‘Fresh Air’
Tonya Mosley has been named co-host of NPR’s iconic show “Fresh Air with Terry Gross.” Gross isn’t going anywhere. She remains co-executive producer and host. But Mosley will now occasionally host. She has been a regular contributor to “Fresh Air” since 2021.
Mosley is a correspondent and former host of NPR’s midday show “Here & Now,” and the host of the podcast “Truth Be Told.”
In a statement, Gross said, “Tonya’s wide range of knowledge and experience, her warm inviting presence, and her ability to make a deep connection with guests, make her a perfect fit for our show.”
In the same statement, Mosley said, “It is a tremendous honor to join Terry in this mission-driven work to inform, inspire and delight listeners through long-form conversation.”
Mosley has had an extensive career in broadcast journalism, including working as a television anchor, producer and correspondent. Her career has taken her to jobs in major markets such as Boston, Detroit, Louisville and Seattle.
Do not forget
Let this stand today as a reminder to all.
Wall Street Journal standards editor Sarah Rabil tweeted this on Wednesday: “FOUR WEEKS. Four very long weeks. That’s how long our @WSJ colleague Evan Gershkovich has been wrongfully detained in a Russian prison. I stand with Evan, his family and the U.S. gov’t in seeking his immediate release. #IStandWithEvan.”
Gershkovich is the Wall Street Journal reporter who was arrested by Russia on charges of espionage — which the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny. The U.S. government considers Gershkovich to be “wrongfully detained.”
The New York Times’ Farnaz Fassihi reported earlier this week that Russia’s foreign minister Sergey V. Lavrov hinted about the possibility of a prisoner swap that would bring Gershkovich and Paul Whelan home. Whelan was arrested in 2018 and is serving a 16-year prison sentence following what is believed to be a sham trial.
Speaking at the United Nations, Lavrov said, “This is work that is not public in nature and publicity here will only complicate the process.”
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Washington Post all will run full-page color ads today showing their support for Gershkovich and demanding his release. Axios’ Sara Fischer has more, including the ad.
Media tidbits
- Writing for the Columbia Journalism Review, Wesley Lowery with “A Test of the News. Objectivity, democracy, and the American mosaic.”
- Outstanding commentary here in a clip from “The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast” as Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand talks about longtime ESPN employee Mike Soltys, who was laid off by the network after 43 years.
- The Chicago Tribune’s Rick Kogan with “Wendell Smith covered sports, history and civil rights and traveled with Jackie Robinson. A new book remembers his work.”
- The 19th’s Jennifer Gerson with “The voices of NPR: How four women of color see their roles as hosts.”
- Politico’s Josh Gerstein with “Judge tosses Devin Nunes suit over Esquire article.”
- Sad news. Dallas Morning News sportswriter Chuck Carlton has died. He was 64. According to his wife, Amy, Carlton died from natural causes in his hotel room in Minnesota, where he was covering the Stanley Cup playoffs. In his remembrance of Carlton, The Dallas Mornings News’ Kevin Sherrington writes that Carlton had long battled congestive heart failure and prostate cancer. I covered a lot of events over the years with Carlton. He was a good man and a good sportswriter. Garry Leavell, sports editor of The Dallas Morning News, put it perfectly when he told Sherrington, “Chuck had an encyclopedic knowledge of sports and the ability to convey that easily. He also had a great sense of humor and was never afraid to laugh at himself.
Hot type
- A stunner of a story in ProPublica from Topher Sanders and Dan Schwartz of ProPublica, and Joce Sterman of Gray Television/InvestigateTV: “As Rail Profits Soar, Blocked Crossings Force Kids to Crawl Under Trains to Get to School.” It includes video by Scotty Smith, Gray Television/InvestigateTV and photography by Jamie Kelter Davis for ProPublica.
More resources for journalists
- Subscribe to Local Edition by Poynter faculty Kristen Hare, to find out what’s working in local news and fresh opportunities for local reporters.
- Join us for An Evening with Denis Phillips — May 12, at The Straz. Get tickets.
- Editorial Integrity and Leadership Initiative — (Sept. – April, 2024) (Hybrid) — Apply by May 15.
Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.
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